I love fried zucchini. Who doesn’t? In my experience, the best fried zucchini you can get is from the Claim Jumper restaurants. One order consists of a huge platter overflowing with a mountain of perfectly fried spears. I like to get them with both ranch and cheddar dipping sauces.

When I first moved in with my husband, he was just finishing up his Bachelor Pad Days and he owned a deep fryer. He made his own fried zucchini at home. He also deep fried Geno’s Pizza Rolls and God knows what else. When we moved into our first house, he gave the fryer away to our downstairs neighbor in the apartment complex. Actually in all honesty, I think I threatened and nagged him into doing that. I’m sure he wanted to keep it for all eternity. I wonder where it is now…

But here’s a healthier version of a truly delicious and usually indulgent classic. It’s from Eating Well magazine, which I love. So many of their recipes call for whole wheat ingredients which I really appreciate. My husband and I made a meal of this dish the other night, along with a glass of wine. He dipped his zucchini into some homemade marinara sauce and I used a very low-fat parmesan ranch dressing from Trader Joe’s. It felt like we were being “bad” and eating something we shouldn’t be on a weeknight at home. But the ingredients actually aren’t so scary.

Enjoy!

Oven-Fried Zucchini Sticks
From Eating Well Magazine (August/September 2005)
Makes 4 Servings

Canola oil cooking spray
1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 T cornmeal
1 t salt
1/2 t freshly ground pepper
1 1/2 lbs zucchini (about 3 medium) cut into 1/2-by-3-inch sticks
2 egg whites

Preheat oven to 475. Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray. Combine flours, cornmeal, salt, and pepper in a large sealable plastic bag. Dip zucchini in egg white, shake in bag to coat, and arrange, not touching, on the baking sheet. Coat all exposed sides with cooking spray. Bake on the center rack for 7 minutes. Turn the zucchini and coat any floury spots with cooking spray. Continue to bake until golden and just tender, about 5 minutes more. Serve hot.

Notes:

• Next time, I will add some freshly grated Parmesan to the flour mixture. Or maybe I could grate some on top of the sticks just before serving them.
• It’s key that you cover any floury parts with the cooking spray every so often. Otherwise, the sticks are covered in dry, unappetizing flour which you can see partly in my photo above. Next time I’ll be more diligent with this.